UFO Joe Slot Demo

How We Rate Our Slots

Our experts at JohnSlots have been creating informative and user-friendly video slot content for years and during this time, we’ve come up with an excellent way to assess games, creating factual video slot reviews.

Our process begins by looking at an online slot’s features, analysing the individual mechanics that make up the game and how these work together to create meaningful and rewarding experiences. We also point out any new or innovative features that go beyond what we’ve come to expect from video slot mechanics.

Next up is the math model, which combines bet levels, max win, RTP and volatility. Apart from looking at these figures, we also play through hundreds of spins to see how they work in practice and how they affect the outcome of the game.

Presentation is another important aspect of every game we review, so we take a closer look at the video slot’s theme, its setting and originality. Beyond that, we also assess how its graphics, animations and sound hold up, bringing the theme to life and giving you a more enjoyable and immersive experience.

Lastly, we make sure that all the video slots we recommend are provided by developers with a strong track record, like Popiplay, ensuring you only play fair and safe games online.

Pros Tips

UFO Joe has a very high volatility setting, but the good news here is that all of the rewarding features in the game, including the bonus mode, can be triggered from regular base game spins. All of the features have been connected with the cluster pays and tumbling reel mechanics, so one lucky round can potentially lead you to the video slot’s best wins.

A bonus buy option is available in some regions, but I seriously wouldn’t consider this, as the bonus can be far more rewarding when it follows up from a strong round rather than something that you instantly trigger. You’re also bound to score some brilliant wins without it, so I’d avoid spending unnecessary cash through it.

Instead, stick to a low bet level that can stretch out your gambling budget, buying you hundreds of base game spins and increasing the chances of having successful rounds with several reel modifier triggers.

Remember that just like any other video slot, UFO Joe runs using a RNG, so all round outcomes are randomised and cannot be influenced. Every spin’s outcome is independent of one another, so the result of one spin doesn’t hold any bearing on another. Avoid following bogus video slot myths and strategies and instead focus on efficiently managing your bankroll. Always play for fun and never for profit.

UFO Joe Slot Bonus Features and Free Spins

The universe UFO Joe explores offers up a huge grid made up of seven reels and eight rows, using a cluster pays mechanic to deliver payouts. This means that you’ll need clusters of at least five identical symbols to score a winning combination. The more symbols you have in that cluster, the better your payout.

There are four low payout symbols displaying sci-fi versions of royal card symbols from J to A. With these tokens, you can score rewards starting from 0.10x your stake and capping at 10x your bet whenever you manage a cluster of 15 or more identical symbols.

Higher up the paytable, you get four high payout symbols, including red, green, blue and purple asteroids. Payouts with these symbols start at 0.50x your stake but can go up to 750x your bet when you land 15 or more purple asteroid symbols.

That covers the video slot’s basic payouts, but the action gets far more exciting once UFO Joe’s special features come into play.

Tumbling Reels

Whenever you score a winning combination, the winning cluster symbols are removed from the reels, and fresh symbols tumble from the top of the reels to replace them. If you score more wins, then the system repeats, and this process carries on until there are no more wins on screen. The tumbling reel mechanic is key to unlocking the bonus game, too, but more on that below.

Merger

If four identical symbols drop next to each other in a square format, they combine to create one big 2×2 mega symbol. If they form part of a winning combination, their value is doubled. Should you have several mega symbols forming part of a cluster win, then their 2x win multiplier is multiplied to give you an even better payout. Wild symbols cannot be merged.

Wilds

Landing as burning asteroids, wild symbols have no payout value, but they step in for any missing pay symbols that can form a winning cluster. They can also combine with existing clusters, increasing their symbol count to deliver better payouts. These symbols are not affected by the game’s four reel modifiers.

Scatter Symbol

There are no scatter symbols in the game since UFO Joe uses the Mass Attack system to deliver reel modifiers and access the bonus game.

Free Spins

Although the game doesn’t have a traditional free spins mode, it comes with a bonus game based around the Mass Attack feature. You start with 100 points, and every symbol involved in a win removes one point from this counter. The aim is to get all the way down to zero by landing consecutive wins through the tumbling reel mechanic.

Every 25 points you clear unlocks a random reel modifier, which can include the following:

• Big Bang – Between three to six symbols are turned into wilds. They destroy all symbols around them, although they don’t award you their payout.
• Eclipse – One symbol on the reels is selected, and it, together with all matching symbols on the grid, is transformed to match another symbol on the reels.
• Interstellar – A wild symbol appears at the centre of the grid, and all symbols along its diagonals are turned into identical tokens unless they happen to already be taken up by wilds.
• Blaster – All low-paying symbols on the grid are destroyed.

You can also trigger the second chance feature, which activates on a spin with no wins. When this happens, a random number of symbols on the grid are transformed into wild symbols. Once you hit the zero point on the meter, you trigger the take-over mechanic. This initially adds a 3×3 mega wild, then two 2×2 mega wilds and then nine regular wilds to the reels.

You can also buy into the take over mechanic immediately, but this will cost you 100x your stake. It’s also a feature not available to UK players, due to local regulations.

UFO Joe Slot Design and Visuals

The sci-fi UFO theme in UFO Joe has a very fun vibe with colourful visuals and animations that light up the screen. The developer has also included a very fitting soundscape to match the extraterrestrial setting. It’s one of Popiplay’s best efforts, showcasing the provider’s excellent presentation skills.

How to Play UFO Joe Slot

Get started by reading through the UFO Joe paytable, giving you a clearer look at the symbols, payouts and features the game has to offer. This can be accessed through the menu in the bottom left corner of the screen, right next to the plus and minus signs, which you’ll use to set a bet level. Once you’re ready to play, simply hit the spin button in the bottom right corner of the screen.

You can also activate the autoplay function with up to 1,000 automatic spins or use the turbo mode, which cuts down on spin animations to speed up the pace of each round.

UFO Joe Slot Mobile Compatibility

I played UFO Joe on my Android phone using a Chrome browser and was very happy with the performance. The game adapts perfectly to suit smaller screens with some minor tweaks to the interface that make it easier to play with touchscreen controls. Otherwise, you get a seamless experience across all platforms. The online slot can also be enjoyed on iOS devices and modern browsers like Safari, Opera and Firefox.

Conclusion

UFO Joe uses a mix of excellent mechanics and a strong math model to create a fun and engaging gameplay loop with a lucrative win potential of up to 12,000x your stake. I enjoyed how these made every round feel relevant, but I was let down by the slightly underwhelming bonus mode.